Polytechnique
Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm | Release Date: June 29, 2011 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
63
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 6 Critic Reviews
Positive:
2
Mixed:
4
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Slant MagazineEd GonzalezJun 28, 2011
Though it's as schematic in construction as Incendies, the film doesn't grind along to a ponderous plot; it's unnerving abstraction of its subject matter more daringly relays Villeneuve's view of the human cost of gender warfare. Read full review
80
Time OutDavid FearJun 28, 2011
Though the characters are fictional, Polytechnique hews close to the facts regarding the 1989 incident, down to its misogynistic Marc Lépine avatar (Gaudette) separating "feminist" coeds in a classroom. Read full review
60
The New York TimesA.O. ScottJun 28, 2011
It is neither floridly melodramatic nor showily minimalist. The virtue - and also the limitation - of this movie is that it confronts senselessness and insists on remaining calm and sane. Read full review
60
Village VoiceMelissa AndersonJun 28, 2011
Polytechnique smartly exposes the spectrum of misogyny without overplaying the connection between the two incidents. Which makes the concluding flash-forward scene all the more disappointing: Designed to give hope, it comes off as an emotional sop instead. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterRay BennettJun 28, 2011
As much a memorial as it is a docudrama and as such it will interest educators and students, and make for sober television. It's a pity, though, that more of an attempt wasn't made to understand the killer and explain such things as why no one apparently thought to phone for help or hit the fire alarm. Read full review
50
VarietyRob NelsonJun 28, 2011
A weaker "Elephant," Quebecois director Denis Villeneuve's school-shooting drama Polytechnique nevertheless distinguishes itself by endeavoring to comprehend the 25-year-old man who murdered more than a dozen female students at Montreal's Polytechnique School in 1989. Read full review
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